Saturday, May 26, 2012

Fun in the Sun!

We officially started summer today.  It was super duper hot today.  After breakfast Brendon took Olivia to help with watering the gardens and played a little in the sand box.  After her nap and lunch then we got ready for the pool.  She did great in the pool.  She was so relaxed at one point she even laid back in her float.  It was cute.  Then she ate her snack outside and took another nap.  While she napped we enjoyed the pool some more.  After her nap we ate dinner.  Brendon worked on a brisket that he started last night when he got home from work.  It was really good. Then we played a little more outside and did our usual night time stuff.  What a fun way to start summer!

Brisket at 1 a.m.
Getting ready for the pool!
Snack time!
Yummy!
Playing with the towel
Chilling in the chairs
Brisket the finished product! Yummy!

Friday, May 25, 2012

Crazy Hair Day!

Today was my last and final day of school.  I closed out all the stuff at my old school and moved my stuff into the classroom for next year.  So now it is on to being a full time mom for the summer! So very excited about that.  We have lots of activities planned and I know a few that are in the works.  I think this summer will be much better than last summer since Olivia is mobile and can do more stuff.  Last summer was hot and I was stuck in the house with her most of the time.

After work we had a family swim and Olivia did good.  She lovers her float.  She is not crazy about being out of it though and I may look into some swim lessons.  Then Olivia just didn't want to nap this afternoon which really stunk because I really needed a nap.  Moving all that stuff yesterday was really exhausting.  So we played lots more and after dinner played outside with the sandbox and a stroll on the driveway. 

Tomorrow we will be celebrating Memorial Day a bit early! Can't wait to swim and eat BBQ!

Olivia had the craziest hair today! I put in a bow to try to control it!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Sandbox time!

Today was a busy day.  I spent most of the day packing the car and moving stuff back to my old school.  I was sweating by 7 am and didn't stop until I got home.  I felt like I had about a 7 hour work out today.  I was at least smart enough to wear a technical shirt to school since I knew I would be sweating... a lot.  I got almost all my stuff back to my old school and have one last load in my car. 

It is getting hot pretty fast.  Brendon took Olivia in the pool while I was at work.  He said she did really good.  Instead of our normal after dinner routine of playing in the driveway tonight we played in the sandbox.  She tried this on Sunday and was kind of iffy about it.  Tonight she played in it for 30 minutes!! She loved it!! I loved it too! I can't wait to be a full time mommy after tomorrow for 2 months! Also for an added bonus Olivia finally has mama down... only took 14 months but we now have mama!


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Olivia and the bubble mower attempt #3

Olivia and the bubble mower attempt #2

Olivia and the bubble mower attempt #1

Last day of school funnies, a scary moment, and the bubble mower

Today was my last day of school with students.  It was a great year and I am so proud of all that my students accomplished.  I always have them write a letter to me about the school year and here are some of the funny and cute responses:

First question: Favorite part of the school year
Student responses:
1. Doing cool and fun experiments
2. Everything- you make every day count!
3.CRCT- because you gave me faith to take the test cause at first I didn't want to take it but I passed! (What a sweet answer!!)
4. Owl Pellets
5. Field Day
6. Last day of school- because it is over

Second Question: The part I'll miss the most
Student responses:
1. Mondays- because sometimes I get sick on Mondays
2. Having fun together
3.When you would make us laugh
4. You- because you have been so nice
5. All the fun things we did because whenever we were learning you tried to make the work as fun as possible


Third Question: 3 things to tell students coming to my class next year
Student responses:
1. Don't be crazy
2. Follow directions
3. Be respectful
4. Listen closely
5. Do your homework
6. Be nice

Last Question: What could they change
Best answers
1. Nothing
2. I would change my missing homework because I HATE going to study hall!

What a sweet bunch of kids! I will miss them!!

On to the scary moment.  I was driving Olivia to Gymboree today and I was going by the high school near us.  The road goes from a single lane to 2 lanes at the end.  I got in the inner lane to turn left at the light.  All of a sudden a person from the right lane cut right in front of me and did a u-turn (they were not even at the light either).  The person didn't even look.  Holy cow I slammed on my brakes and honked my horn.  Poor Olivia, it scared her and she got very quiet for awhile.  She was chatting away before it happened.  I am just so thankful that we are ok.  That is the closest that I have ever come to having a wreck with Olivia in the car.  I mean there were inches between my car and theirs. .There is also some nice skid marks left too (I saw those on the way home).  I called Brendon because I was really upset and scared.  If I would have hit that car I would have hit it on the person's driver side.  But geez...gave me the shakes for quite awhile

We finally fired up the bubble mower outside tonight.  At first she wasn't really into it and then I pushed it around and she thought that was hilarious.  Finally I got her to push it though! There are 3 video attempts of it!

Favorite activity- walking up the driveway
What's that?
Bubble mower inspection
YAY!




Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Olivia bubble mower practice

Olivia be-bopping in the recliner

Our little Picasso

We had a pretty good day today.  Nothing too exciting going on.  I took Olivia with me to the school I will be transferring to in the fall this afternoon for a little Welcome Celebration.  It was actually the school I worked at 2 years ago, so it felt really great to see everyone again.  It was like I was on vacation and came back! I am very excited for my new job adventure.  Olivia was really great the whole time.  She even explored the cafeteria and was not afraid of people at all. 

After that we came home and played for a bit, since it was so late I didn't bother to put her down for a nap. Olivia played while I made her dinner.  We ate dinner and again we had some thunderstorms so we stayed inside after dinner.  But we did do something new tonight.  Since my school stuff is everywhere, I decided to get out some crayons and paper and see what she would do.  I found it worked best by putting a pad of paper (I had a legal pad) onto a clipboard. I clipped the open end to the clipboard so the paper wouldn't move.   She did try to put them in her mouth like any curious child would- so don't walk away while your child is coloring! I doodled first on the paper and she loved it.  She grabbed the crayon and started trying to get it on the paper.  I then showed her how to make dots by tapping the crayon and she did that! I am glad we have a new activity! She loved it!

Hmmm... what color???
Action shot
Pieces of artwork!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Olivia playing on the couch!

14 Months Old

14 months old! Already??? Gosh time is flying by! Here are some fun things and not so fun things about a 14 month old.

Fun things:
1. She is walking! Started about 13.5 months! Her favorite place to walk...up the driveway.
2. LOVES milk! She is a milkaholic.
3. Likes to imitate people.
4. Loves to talk.  It seems like she is picking up words all the time.  Tonight I sneezed and she said, "Bless you!" We must sneeze a lot.
5. Likes to swim
6. Climbs the stairs like a champ and knows when you say go to your room...she knows where to go.
7. Has become a snuggler...will climb in your lap
8. Likes kisses- when you say give me a kiss she lowers her head so you can kiss her forehead.
9. Finally starting to say mama!
10. Carrying less stuff in the baby bag...and have even started using a smaller bag!
11. Loves the couch and recliner...makes her giggle and smile. 
12. Taught herself to sit in her chair!


Not so fun things:
1. More teething...molars! Molars = crying
2. Starts crying when you take things away from her.
3. Still HATES the car seat at times...more often than not.
4. Sometimes eats like a champ and others eats like a bird.
5. Throwing food on the floor.  Jake is good for clean up for that though!
6.  Still not a big fan of fruit which equals making purees still (except bananas...loves bananas!)

That's all I can think of now! But it sure is fun though! We had a great trip to Target today.  She was looking, pointing, and talking a lot while we were there.  She even said, "Bye-bye," to the cashier!

Here is our 14 month old photo shoot with outtakes of course!


#1 Throwing animals overboard out of the crib.
#2 Not looking at camera
#3 Picking her nose
#4 Finally a smile!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Jake and Swimming

Poor Jake! Friday afternoon after Brendon left for work and I was putting Olivia down for a nap, he snuck into the garbage and ate the leftovers of Brendon's ear of corn.  He ate the whole thing! I was so worried.  I called the animal hospital and they told me to watch him for any signs of distress like vomiting etc.  Well nothing happened Friday and nothing all day Saturday.  Well Saturday night he was not acting like himself.  He went to the bathroom several times and was just not doing what he usually does- sleep.  Then about 11:20ish, he went into his crate and vomited.  He is so smart to go in there so we don't have to clean the carpet.  There was some corn cob in there and I called the animal hospital again and they said to bring him in.  Brendon is such a great husband that he took Jake.  The hospital did x-rays and gave Jake some medicine and he came home.  Today he was feeling much better.  We need to watch him the next few days to make sure he is ok! Poor guy! We love him so much!
Jake's abdomen
Jake's profile.  On the far right you can see a piece of the corn cob!


Today we had some fun outside.  We set up Olivia's sand and water table, so she tried that out.  Then Nikki, her mommy and daddy came over and we went swimming and played. The pool was a bit chilly even though it was 80 degrees, Olivia got the shivers at the end! We had a fun time! Then we ate dinner.  It was great to have them over and swim!

Nikki!
Olivia!
Nikki and her daddy!
Mommy and Olivia
Sand and water table!
Michelle loved playing in the sand!